CN, NH2, and dust in the atmosphere of comet C/1999 J3 (LINEAR)

Details CN, NH2, and dust in the atmosphere of comet C/1999 J3 (LINEAR) CN, NH2, and dust in the atmosphere of comet C/1999 J3 (LINEAR)

Jan 2002

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2002a%26a...381..703k&link_type=abstract

Astronomy and Astrophysics, v.381, p.703-708 (2002)

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

10

Comets: Individual: C/1999 J3 (Linear), Molecular Processes, Methods: Numerical

Scientific paper

Comet C/1999 J3 (LINEAR) was observed with 2 m telescope of the Pik Terskol Observatory on September 19, 1999. Narrow-band CCD images of the CN, NH2, and dust atmospheres were recorded with the Two-Channel focal reducer of the Max-Plank-Institute for Aeronomy. The distributions of the CN and NH2 molecules in the comet atmosphere were fitted with a Monte Carlo model. For the CN atmosphere the best agreement between observed and calculated surface profiles was reached with the CN photodissociation lifetime tau (CN)=1.5*E5 s and with the parent photodissociation lifetime tau (CNparent)=3.2*E4 s. This result indicates that HCN is the main source of the CN radicals in the atmosphere of comet C/1999 J3 (LINEAR). Regarding the NH2 radicals, there is no doubt that NH3 is the dominant source of this species in the comet atmosphere. The lifetimes tau (NH2)=1.0*E5 s for NH2 and tau (NH2 parent)=5.0*E3 s for its parent are close to theoretical calculations. The gas-production rates of CN, Q(CN)=3.8 *E25 mol s-1, and NH2, Q(NH2)=6.9*E25 mol s-1 have also been determined. The appearance of the comet and the obtained data show that the comet is a gaseous one. The Afrho values are 21.6 cm for the blue spectral window and 23.4 cm for the red one. The normalized spectral gradient of the cometary dust is low, 4.0% per 1000 Å. The ratio log((Afrho )443/Q(CN)) = -24.25 indicates a very low dust to gas ratio as well.

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